Engineer on S.F. Zoo train living his dream

LIFE STUDIES

Johnny Sala, the San Francisco Zoo's train engineer/conductor talks about his experience at the zoo in San Francisco, Calif., on Tuesday, February 23, 2011.

Johnny Sala, the San Francisco Zoo's train engineer/conductor talks about his experience at the zoo in San Francisco, Calif., on Tuesday, February 23, 2011.

Photo: Liz Hafalia, The Chronicle

Photo: Liz Hafalia, The Chronicle

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Johnny Sala, the San Francisco Zoo's train engineer/conductor talks about his experience at the zoo in San Francisco, Calif., on Tuesday, February 23, 2011.

Johnny Sala, the San Francisco Zoo's train engineer/conductor talks about his experience at the zoo in San Francisco, Calif., on Tuesday, February 23, 2011.

Photo: Liz Hafalia, The Chronicle

Engineer on S.F. Zoo train living his dream

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When Johnny Sala was all of 3 years old, he loved nothing more than watching steam engines roll along the tracks in Redwood City. Around the same time, his father started taking him to ride the Little Puffer steam train at San Francisco's zoo.

"When I was little, I used to fantasize about being an engineer on the Puffer," said Sala, standing in the train shed at the San Francisco Zoo. "Well, here I am at 70 years old and running it. My dream came true."

Sala has been the Little Puffer's engineer, conductor, fireman and brakeman for 11 years. When weather permits, he takes as many as 75 rides a day around the 1/3 -mile track, which starts and ends near the capybara and anteater exhibits.

In his deep voice - he moonlights as a honky-tonk guitarist and loves Johnny Cash - he offers greetings and jokes, poses for photos, asks little girls in sunglasses whether they are celebrities, and makes note of the boys clutching their favorite Thomas the Tank Engine.

"The thing is, I know what it feels like to see a train coming along the tracks with the steam pouring out the sides," he said, adjusting his striped engineer's cap. "It just lights you up."

Sala, who is married and has three grown sons, worked for years on the Western Pacific Railroad. One of his early jobs was as a gandy dancer, laying and maintaining tracks. He also owned a bar, and tried a life of "pickin' and grinnin' " - performing with his band, the River Rats, around the Bay Area. In 1997, he began volunteering at the Golden Gate Railroad Museum, then located at Hunters Point.

The Little Puffer was being restored there. Built by the Cagney Bros. Miniature Railroad Co. in New York, the miniature stream train had been at the zoo since 1925 before being put into retirement in 1978 to make way for a new gorilla exhibit.

In 1997, funds were raised to bring the Puffer back to life. Sala and a group of volunteers spent 10 months taking the Puffer apart and putting her back together again, even retrofitting the train to run on cleaner-burning gas.

"You are always running a train," Sala said, watching water pressure levels on the tender up front. Pointing to the throttle, he noted, "This is the Johnson Bar. You pull it back and you are hooked into reverse."

Pointing to a dome on the top of the front end, he said, "This is the sand dome. You can release sand on the tracks and it gives you stopping power."

The job never gets monotonous, he said. "You've got the people to contend with, you get to play with a bunch of kids and families. And, when I'm up front, I'm watching the front of the train, the back, the sides, the gauges, the squirrels and peacocks that run alongside the train, and the water levels."

He added, "When it's boiling water, I don't leave it. It's not a computer that turns on and off. It's an engine and you need to stay with it."

Showing off his scraped, nicked, burned and weathered hands, he said, "We don't hire any kids with pretty hands. You need old hands like mine."

Sala spends a part of every day greasing all parts of the train's exterior engine. He oils the driving rods three to four times a day in between rides.

One of his favorite parts of the train is the brass whistle. He loves its high pitch, and its story - it belonged to his stepfather, a train aficionado who passed it on to Sala.

There are lots of perks to his job, he said, smiling. He has escaped speeding tickets twice when the officers who pulled him over recognized him from the zoo and said their kids love him.

"I'm on refrigerators across the Bay Area," he said proudly. "My job here is the greatest. I get to make people happy. It keeps me alive, really."

His office, the old train shed, smells of metal and grease and is filled with tools, heavy electrical cords, containers of gear oil, lanterns hanging from the rafters, rubber bats and a sign reading, "Don't feed the bats." On a worktable nearby are historic photos of the Little Puffer. Sala also showed off a photo of himself with his sister at the zoo. It was taken in the mid-1940s, when he was about 4 years old.

"Lots of memories here," he said. "My dad rode with me on this train when I was a little kid. Whenever I see a father and son up front, I get a tear in my eye."